Victory At All Costs
by ww2jacob
Summary: The story of a Liberty Naval officer in a terrible colonywide war. The main character, William Black, must battle terrible odds to defeat a seemingly invincible foe. Will his skill and cunning save the day? Or will he succumb to failure and death, like s
1. Chapter 1

**Victory At All Costs**  
The Story of William Black

A Freelancer Fan Fiction Story

By: ww2jacob

**Chapter One- An Overview of the Battlefield**

Commander William H. Black stood on the stage set up at the Naval base on Planet Los Angeles. He was halfway filled with pride, and halfway filled with nervousness, the sort of feeling that you can only get at an awards ceremony. He was sweating in the hot Los Angeles sun. He hoped this would end soon.

His Commanding Officer, Admiral Johnson, took the podium.

"To conclude this event, we have one last award to give. This is an award for a certain person who took on a certain dangerous mission, and came back with everyone he left with."

It was pretty obvious that, by this point, all the Liberty Navy officers knew who and what the Admiral was talking about.

"I am very pleased to welcome Commander William Black, and also to present him with two awards. First, I will give him the Navy Star of Honor for bravery and courage in battle."

The Admiral walked over to Commander Black, and pinned the star-shaped medal on his uniform.

"Next, I will present him with the rank of Captain in the Liberty Navy."

The Admiral pinned the new rank insignia on Black's uniform.

"Congratulations, Captain Black."

That was fifteen years ago. Captain Black sat in his chair thinking about why he had gotten the medal and promotion. When he had been a Commander, he was one of the Navy's best pilots. He was so good, in fact, that he had been given command of his own squadron of twelve Defender Heavy Fighters. The squadron had been on patrol, deep in the field know as the Badlands, when they stumbled across a large asteroid. It wasn't just an asteroid, though. It had docking ports and guns on it. It was a base! Judging by the amount of Liberty Rouge fighters around it, he had figured that it was a Rouge base. There had been rumors of a Rouge base in the Badlands, but no patrol had ever found it, and lived to make it back to West Point.

He called to his squadron, telling them to note the position. He then told them to engage the Rouges, but try to lead away from the base, in the direction of West Point. He wanted to avoid the base if at all possible, because the defense turrets could do some serious damage.

The squadron engaged the Rouges, downing two of them in a few seconds. Then, the squadron slipped back into the depths of the Badlands. They took out the three Rouges that followed them, and proceeded out of the Badlands.

The information that Black gave the Navy was invaluable. For over a hundred years, the Rouges had existed in the Badlands, and no naval patrol had ever found their secret base of operations. The very next week, a huge naval force moved through the Badlands and attacked the base. They pounded the base, and the Rouges fled. The fleet made sure that no one would be able to ever use the base again, and then left.

Captain Black was now over forty years old. He had been in command of the Liberty Cruiser Reconciliation and Special Task Force 6 for fifteen of those years, and had amassed one of the finest records that the Navy had ever seen. He was a tactical genius, primarily due to his incredible knowledge of history. He tended to favor pre-journey history. That is, history that took place before humans boarded the sleeper ships. The time spent on Earth. History that was mostly forgotten. That was why he loved it; it was very challenging to find out about it. He knew a lot about it, though. He had learned of the man called Napoleon, of a lost culture that had been left in Sol. He knew of the World Wars, and the Greeks, and Romans, and all the great battles fought then. He found it hard to believe that this had all happened before the advent of space travel. These had all been fought on solid ground; these generals and commanders had led an entirely different kind of war. Yet, he found a lot that he could change to use in space. Many of these commanders had created battle styles and tactics that could be used in space, as well as solid ground. That was his secret of success.

He was flipping through an old book, when his CO, Admiral Johnson, walked in.  
"I have your new deployment orders."

Black looked up. He had been waiting for this. While spacedock was nice, he ached for a new assignment.

"You have been ordered to the Shikoku system. You are to take up a position near Deshima Station, and make sure that nothing harms the Liberty transports that pass through there. Your Task Force will depart here at 0700 hours tomorrow. Is that clear?"

Captain Black could hardly hide his excitement. "Yes sir," he said.

"Excellent."

The Admiral left.

Black's task force was comprised of three Liberty Cruisers, the Reconciliation, the Providence, and the Intrepid. It also included one squadron of twelve Defender fighters. He called up his friend, Captain James Morrison of the Intrepid. He told him about the deployment. Morrison seemed pleased. Black then called up Lieutenant Roberts. He ordered his chief deck commander to get the Reconciliation ready to leave. Black then decided to rest, tomorrow seemed like it would be a busy day.

Before he went to sleep, the tele-screen burst to life. He must have left it on. Before he could shut it off, he realized what the announcer was talking about. "In urgent news, Rheinland Chancellor Schmidt has sent a fleet into Sigma-13 today. It corresponded perfectly with the expiration of the Boorman treaty yesterday. Now there is nothing stopping Rheinland from invading Kusari. The GMG ships and stations in the system were utterly destroyed, no word yet as to whether anything survived."

This was big. If Rheinland moved into Sigma, then Kusari would surely retaliate. This could lead to all out war. The colonies were still recovering from the devastating Nomad Invasion thirty years ago. It had looked like something like this might have happened. Since the Invasion, many leaders had changed. Rheinland's Schmidt was young, and headstrong. He loved fighting, and hated the Kusaris. Liberty had elected a new president, President Diana Wells. She was also young, and was likely to be influenced to join a war. Bretonia had a new ruler, King George. He was well respected, but knew little about foreign policy, and even less about warfare. Kusari had been struggling in the years after the Invasion. The Blood Dragons were becoming more and more a threat. However, Kusari had just gotten back on their feet, rebuilding their Naval Force and becoming more and more powerful.

He went to bed, hoping he would not wake up to find a war going on.

In the morning, he readied his men and ships, and set off for Shikoku.

They arrived and took up a position near Deshima. Captain Black hoped that he and his men would see some action soon, but nothing was guaranteed. By the time he went to bed, nothing had happened. It was just the boring process of scanning all the ships that they saw, and keeping an eye out for pirates, of which they saw none. He wished that they would see some action soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two- Battle Stations**

His wish was granted. The next morning, Lieutenant Roberts shook him awake. Roberts told him that something had happened, and he was needed on the bridge immediately.

Captain Black headed for the bridge.

When he arrived, he was told that he had an urgent message from fleet command. He opened it, and it read?

To: Captain Black, 6th SP Task Force  
From: Admiral Johnson, Fleet Command  
Flags: speedy, URGENT, confidential

Captain,  
We have just had a new development. As you probably know, Rheinland moved into Sigma yesterday. However, something happened, and the message about the war that was sent to Tohoku was... tampered with. The people at the Battleship Matsumoto got a message saying that it was Liberty that had attacked them. They retaliated by attacking the DSE employees at the Chugoku Gate Site. Hundreds of them were killed. We responded by attacking some of their forces in Kepler. Now, we are officially at war with Kusari. We have made several other negotiations, and Rheinland, the Blood Dragons, and the GC are on our side. Those Kusari forces near you will probably find out soon, so be ready. You now have new orders, protect any and all surviving Liberty Corporation convoys that come by, and eliminate all Kusari forces that oppose you. I will let you know when all of the convoys have been accounted for, and will then give you permission to return to Liberty Space. Also, the Battleship Oklahoma will be dispatched to protect the Galileo Jump gate, send the convoys there.   
Regards,  
Admiral Johnson

Captain Black stared at the message for a second. It just didn?t make sense. All out war? How could it happen? Then, he jumped back to his senses.

"Battlestations! Prepare for action!"

Men began running around. He hit the button for the alarm. He wanted everyone ready. Over the comm channel, he told the captains and wing leaders to prepare for battle and enter formation with him. They were going to pay a visit to the Battleship Myoko.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three- Test of Skill**

Captain Black watched the computer intently. He waited, waited, then, they were in range!

"Fire the main gun!" Black called to his weapons officer.

The ship shook for a second. Black kept his eyes glued to the computer screen. He had fired, and the other cruisers had fired.

"Incoming communication from the Myoko!" cried Black's comm officer.  
"Transfer it to my station."

Then, a Kusari male wearing a crisp Naval Forces uniform popped up on the screen.

"What is the meaning of this? Why are you shooting at us?"

"Haven't you heard? We are at war with you captain! Brace for impact!"

Black laughed. It was right at that moment when the shots from the cruisers' main guns impacted on the hull of the Myoko.

"Damage report! Man all stations! Launch fighters!" cried the Kusari captain. "You'll pay for this!" he added, then clicked off the screen.

Black then called to his fighter squadron. He informed them of the situation, then told them to engage the Myoko and its fighters. Black then checked the damage he had done to the Kusari battleship. Not a lot, but he did hit what he was aiming for; the battleship's reactor room. The reactor hadn't exploded, he wasn't that good, but it had put the battleship's engines offline, which meant he had the ability to attack a standing target. That would improve his odds greatly.

"Sir, we have an incoming wing of Kusari torpedo bombers!"

Black called to his fighters, and told them to destroy the bombers.

"Sir, main gun is ready for firing!" cried his weapons officer.

"Very good. Fire at will."

Another shaking. Black watched the computer as it showed the shot moving through space and finally hitting the Myoko's hull. He was getting closer to destroying the enemy ship. The other cruisers fired. Their shots hit their marks. One more volley should complete the job.

Then, another shaking, this time it was violent.

"Report!"

"Torpedoes sir. One of the flak turrets has been lost, and hull integrity is failing."

"See what you can do to fix it."

"Aye-aye sir."

He heard the screams of one of his pilots. The battle out there was not going too well.

Defenders were no match for the Kusari heavy fighters.

"Sir, another wing of Naval Forces fighters just came through the trade lane!"

They were not going to survive much longer.

"Any convoys?"

"Yes sir, three have gone safely through to the gate."

Good, they were getting closer to accomplishing their mission.

"Sir, main gun is charged!"

Those were the words he wanted to hear.

"Fire main gun!" he cried.

The other ships fired right after his.

Two seconds later, the shots connected with the hull of the Myoko. A huge explosion came out of the ship. The once great battleship broke up into a few pieces, then, one by one, those pieces were destroyed. A huge cheer resounded throughout the bridge.

"Calm down, there will be time for partying back in Liberty. Right now, we've got a job to finish."

Everyone got back to work.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four- Honor, Glory, and the Road Ahead**

Captain Black sank into his chair in his new office at Navy Headquarters on Planet Manhattan. It felt very good to be back in Liberty. He had been very close to becoming space dust at times, but he had come through.

After the Myoko had been destroyed, his radar operator picked up over two dozen new ships coming into the system from New Tokyo. It was a whole Kusari fleet! His ships managed to fight off the rest of the Myoko's fighters, and then, just as they were about to leave, another group of convoys came out of the trade lane! They said that the Kusari fleet was right on their heels, and that they were the last living convoys still in Kusari. He told them to take the trade lane to the Galileo gate. They moved through slowly and meticulously. As the last Startracker cleared the ring, the Kusari fleet came out of the other trade lane ring!

"Fighters, get out of here! Warn the Oklahoma! Cruisers, cover them!"

His cruiser slowly turned to face the huge Kusari fleet. There were two battleships, three cruisers, eight gunboats, and over two dozen fighters! All at once, they opened up with a wall of fire on the three cruisers guarding the gate, and the crews prepared for battle.  
The first volley from the fleet did enormous damage to the Liberty cruisers, but they held together.

"Sir, all fighters are through the ring."

"Order the Providence through next! Fire the main gun!"

Black watched on his screen as the Providence moved toward the ring.   
"Intrepid, get out of here!" he called over the comm.

"NO! I will stay here while you go. I won't let you do this! You'll die for sure!" cried Captain Morrison.

"Look, you will go, or I will fire on you!" "Get out of here, that is a direct order!"

Black watched as the Intrepid moved towards the ring. The Providence had just gone through.

Another huge shaking. The ship was barely holding together! He didn't want a report, he was afraid of what he'd hear. The Intrepid made it through the ring! He ordered his pilot to guide the ship into the trade lane ring.

So, they had made it out of Kusari alive. When he returned to the Norfolk Shipyards, the technicians had said that the damage was the most extensive they had ever seen! The whole operation became very famous in a short time; mostly due to the Liberty media calling it, 'The first major victory for our side in this war.' Captain Black had become famous as well.

Today, he was going to another ceremony, yet this one was only for him. He would receive a promotion, probably to the rank of Commodore. He was also told that he might receive a medal.

A few hours later, Black was standing on the stage in the gym of the Liberty Training Academy on Manhattan, the very same one he had gotten a degree from. Admiral Johnson walked up to the podium before a crowd of over a hundred high-ranking Liberty officials and media correspondents.

"And now, the real reason that we are all here, I will present a few awards to Captain William Black, who is the hero of the Shikoku campaign."

The Admiral then gave a brief summary of Black's actions in Shikoku.

"Now I present, to Captain Black, the rank of Rear Admiral in the Liberty Navy."

Wow! Rear Admiral? He had just skipped two ranks! This was incredible! As Admiral Johnson pinned the insignia to his uniform, Black smiled the biggest smile that he had ever smiled.

"Now, I will give Admiral Black his next award. I present to you, Admiral William Black, the Liberty Cross. His courage, bravery, and dedication in battle is incredible, and that is why he deserves this medal."

At that moment, when Johnson pinned the medal on his uniform, Admiral William Black was then happiest man in the galaxy.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five- A New Place**

Rear Admiral William Black walked through the corridors of the LNS Jefferson. The ship was brand new, and the sparkling clean halls and rooms were a testament to that fact. He made his way to the bridge. The bridge was huge, and filled with all sorts of new equipment. He walked around and looked at all of the different scanners, weapon stations, and viewscreens. It was an incredible ship, top of the line.

Black then made his way up to the command post. It was at the very top of the ship. This was the part of the ship where the admiral would sit. He would watch the ship, and his fleet, and make decisions. This would be his place.

Black exited the lift and walked into the room. There were big viewports all the way around, and towards the center of the room, there was a huge chair. He walked over, and sat down in it. On the sides, there were a variety of screens. The chair faced a massive viewport. He looked out at the prow of a Liberty battleship. The Jefferson was the newest ship in the Liberty fleet, and it was the top of its class.

He looked down at the screens on the chair. One had a schematic diagram of the ship, and gave damage reports. Another told him how much power was currently available to the ship. Another told him about the weapons. They were the best part. Four huge, slow firing guns were mounted on the ship's bow. They were for fighting other capital ships. There were also a variety of missile turrets, flak turrets, and secondary turrets.  
"You haven't even seen the best part, sir." Said Captain Fox.

Captain Fox was the Captain of the Jefferson. He would manage the command of the ship, while Black would manage the whole fleet. In his task force, he had the Jefferson, his old three cruisers, and a new cruiser-- (the Glory)--four fighter wings for the cruisers, and three more wings on the Jefferson. The whole group was named Task Force 3. They were yet to receive deployment orders.

"What would that be?" Black asked.

"Let me show you."

Fox walked over to the chair that Black was in. He looked at the damage screen. He hit a few buttons on the screen. The schematic on the screen began to pulsate a blue color. 'Shields Online', came up on the screen.

"This thing has shields?"

"Yes sir, it does indeed. However, they drain our energy, so only activate them in battle."

"Sounds good."

This ship was truly top of the line.

A few days later, Admiral Black was sitting in his office, when a mail message popped up on his screen. The message contained orders for him to go and escort a Liberty diplomat to Waterloo Station in orbit around Planet New London. His trip would take him first to San Diego, where he would pick up the diplomat, then on to Bretonia through Magellan. His entire task force was ordered to leave the next day. He told an aide to have all of his ships prepped for departure.

He had a feeling about what this mission was for. Tensions with Bretonia had been escalating, and this diplomat was probably being sent to smooth things over with the Bretonians. Assassinations were a possibility, because Kusari could hire a variety of criminal groups in Magellan, or in Bretonia itself to attempt to kill this ambassador, so the High Command must have considered this moderate-risk task a good one for Black's first job as an Admiral.

The next day, Admiral Black was sitting in the command post of the LNS Jefferson. He watched as the ship pulled away from the shipyard. Waiting for them were the other ships in the task force. The force made their way to the California system after the Jefferson had met up with them. Black was impressed, Captain Fox was doing an excellent job of running the ship. They encountered no problems on the way to San Diego.

When they arrived at the San Diego, Black boarded a small, armored transport to dock with the station. On board, the ambassador was waiting for him.

"Admiral Black?"

"Yes, that would be me. And you are?"

"Diplomat Charles Hapgood."

"Nice to meet you. Now, we have no time to lose, we need to back on board my ship."

"Of course Admiral."

During the trip to Magellan, Hapgood stayed at the command post. He claimed that it was because he wanted to see everything, but Black knew that was not it. Hapgood was watching Black, he wanted to make sure Black didn't make any mistakes. Black talked to Hapgood as they traveled through the jump. Hapgood was an aging gentleman, who had a very commanding presence. Black learned that he had been Liberty's finest diplomat for over twenty years, and had been a diplomat of some kind for over thirty. Apparently he was being sent to Bretonia to attempt to 'work things out' with the Bretonian government.  
They arrived in Magellan and went to Freeport 4. The trip in the trade lane was uneventful. Freeport 4 reported of no hostile activity in the area, so they continued to the Manchester Jump Gate. Halfway there, Black noticed a large, dark cloud up ahead. He had been to Magellan before, and he hadn't recalled ever seeing such a cloud before. He asked Hapgood about it and he said that he had no idea either. The task force proceeded into the cloud.

Partway through, Black could make out the next trade ring. However, it was bent out of shape, as if it had taken incredible damage. The ships flew through the damaged ring. They stopped.

"Why have we stopped, Captain?" Black asked over the intercom.

"The trade ring has been damaged, sir. Looks like a pirate attack. It happened pretty recently too, sir."

Black had a hunch.

"Scan this field, tell me what it is made of."

"One moment, sir. It appears to be made of fuel and engine parts, plus some radiation."

"Take us towards the source of it all."

"Okay, but that will take us away from the trade lane."

"Just do it, Captain."

The ship turned. They moved deeper into the field. Black could begin to make out shapes. Then, he could see it all. All the carnage. Scattered throughout the field were wrecks. Dozens of them. He saw the bow of a battleship, half a cruiser, a scorched Defender. The strangest thing, however, was that they were all Liberty wrecks. It had to have been a full battlegroup, and there were no dead enemies. It was impossible. No full Liberty battlegroup could be destroyed that easily. In fact, he had no knowledge of any battlegroup ever being fully decimated like this. Nothing like this had ever happened before.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six- Dead Men's Tales **

Rear Admiral Black was riveted to the viewport in front of him. In space, all around him, were the wrecks of what had once been a proud Liberty battlegroup.

"Admiral?"

"Yes, captain."

"Should we notify the Navy?"

"Yes, get someone out here right away."

Black was still incredulous about all this. Who could have done this? Only a full fleet could have caused such destruction, but they would have taken losses as well. Nothing made since anymore.

"Admiral?"

"Yes."

"The Navy is sending another task force to investigate. We can continue on our mission when they arrive."

"Understood."

Then, Black saw something in the gloom ahead. He ordered the pilot to move the ship towards it. Slowly, he saw more and more of the object. Then, he could make out the shape just enough... It was a Liberty battleship! As his ship moved closer and closer, Black could still not make out any damage on the hull.

He pulled up the scanner system on his pad. He executed a long-range scan on the hulk of the Liberty ship. He looked at the results. Not a scratch! This side of the ship, at least, was in good shape. Since the scanner was unable to penetrate the thick armor of the ship, he had no idea what was on the other side, or on the inside, for that matter.

He told the pilot to go around the ship, so he could get a closer look.

They reached the other side, and Black was awestruck at what he saw. This entire side of the ship, bow to stern, was filled with big, gaping holes. It was as if the ship had taken full broadsides from half a dozen other battleships! Black pulled up the schematic of the ship on his pad. The holes in the armor enabled his sensors to pierce through to the interior. He noticed that much was damaged, but large portions were untouched. Including the docking bay. That meant potential survivors, and he had to find them, if they were still alive.

He put in a call to the docking bay. He had a transport, the same one he had used to pick up Hapgood, readied for immediate launch. Then, he summoned the ship's contingent of Liberty Marine Troopers, or LMTs, to the docking bay. There were about twenty of them, and they were experts at fighting inside large ships. He told Fox to take command of the ship, and then stood up. Hapgood came running over.

"What's going on, Admiral? I have a meeting to be at, and I hope this will not take too long, whatever it is."

"Calm down, it won't be long. Besides, if this is what I think it is, then it is far more important to Liberty than your mission."

Hapgood was about to argue, but he decided against it.

"Well, where are you going," he asked.

"I am going onto that ship."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"You will wait."

Black briskly walked to the lift that would take him back down to the main level of the ship, hit the button, and the doors shut.

While he waited for the lift to take him down, Black pulled his pistol out of its holster. It was a Liberty Magnum, standard issue for all Liberty officers. He slid it back into the holster. He would need his wits about him, and his trigger finger ready, here more so than any other time. He had no idea what he would find on that derelict ship.

The doors opened again, and Black exited the lift and move into the hall. He walked down to the docking bay doors, and entered. A group of the marines were sitting close by, checking their weapons. They had long, powerful rifles, equipped with scopes, and body armor with helmets. As he neared them, one of the men noticed him, and sprung to attention.

"Officer on the deck!" he cried, and saluted. His squad, as well as everyone in the bay, instantly sprung to attention as well.

Black returned the salute.

"At ease," he said.

Everyone returned to their duties. Several pilots were mulling about. They looked disappointed that they had not been called on to escort the Admiral and his party to the ship.

"Commander Gordon, come here, please!" Black called across the bay.

A young man jumped up from a corner, where he had been talking to his pilots, and jogged over to Black.

"Yes, sir?"

"I would like Delta wing to escort my party onto that ship, and keep a close eye out for any trouble. Afterwards, I would like you to dock with the ship, and keep control of the bay until we return."

"Are you expecting any problems, sir?"

"No, but I just want to be safe."

"Good, good. I will ready my men."

"Thank you, Commander."

The Commander ran off to get his men. Black walked over to Lieutenant Peters, the leader of the Jefferson's marines. Peters was talking with a group of squad leaders. Black interrupted him.

"Lieutenant, are your men ready?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, get them loaded into the transport."

"Aye, aye, sir."

Peters called his men together, and, as a unit, they boarded the transport. Commander Gordon came back up to Black.

"Sir, my men are ready to go."

"Get them to their ships, Commander."

Black watched as Gordon led the three other pilots in Delta wing to their Defenders. Then, he joined the marines aboard the transport.

Minutes later, the transport, along with Delta wing, was out in space. Black was sitting behind the pilot, with the LMTs in the rear cargo hold of the ship. Black could see the derelict, plain as day, in front of them. The ship accelerated.

"Head for the docking bay," Black said to the pilot

The pilot acknowledged, and the ship veered towards the lower portion of the ship. They moved closer, and the pilot gave a dock request. Surprisingly, the doors opened. Black had expected the docking computer to be destroyed, and in that case, they simply would have blasted their way in. That was not necessary, however. The ship entered the bay, passed through the airlock, and entered the internal bay. The pilot gently set the ship down, and Black went back into the cargo hold. The marines sat on makeshift benches along the walls. When he walked in, the Lieutenant signaled for the men to stand up. They silently followed Black to the transport?s exit door. Before Black hit the button to open it, Peters called out, "Be ready for hostile contact!"

Black hit the button, and the door hissed open. Before exiting, Black called back, and told the pilot to be ready to extract them at a moment's notice. Black charged out of the transport, pistol drawn, and the marines followed, guns leveled, ready for anything.

The bay was as silent as a tomb. The strangest thing, however, was that all of the fighters and transports were still in the bay. None of the ships had left to engage the enemy! In any fight, the first thing a captain did was to launch fighters to engage the enemy ships. It was yet another thing that was out of place in this mission.

The group silently made their way across the bay to the main set of doors that led to the main part of the ship.

So, the team wandered through the ship for about fifteen minutes, stopping every now and then to let Black check their position on his datapad. Then, they hit a dead end.

"Damnit! We are never going to get to the bridge. All the ways are blocked!" Black said as he looked at his datapad. "Well, if we can't get to the bridge, I think I might be able to get us to the next best thing. There is a lift that leads to the command post. We might be able to find survivors there; it seems to have only taken light damage."

They backtracked their way to the lift, and boarded it. Black entered his ID code, and it successfully overrode the lift's security system that was put in place to protect the commander of the ship. The doors closed, and the lift began moving upwards. It was very cramped; they were putting twenty men in a lift that was designed for a maximum of ten. The lift stopped, and the doors opened. Black drew his pistol, and glanced around.

Only the red emergency lights were on in this portion of the ship, while most of the lights had been lit in the bay and the hall. Bodies were on the floor. Black could see fairly well, because of all the viewports in the command post. Many of the bodies were those of officers, and Black and the marines went around to each of them, checking to see if they were still alive. Black saw one body that had a crisp, whit uniform on. It was lying directly in front of the command chair. A pool of blood covered the body. A piece of bulkhead had collapsed right on top of the chair, which explained what had killed the man. Black walked over to he body. He flipped it over, and saw the rank insignia on the shoulders. A Vice Admiral. He checked for a pulse, and was shocked when he detected one. This man was still alive!


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven- Solutions and Problems **

"We've got a live one over here!" Black called to the marines. They ran over, and gathered around.

"That's Vice Admiral Richardson!" cried one of the marines.

Black shook the man. Slowly, the Admiral began to regain consciousness.

"What… Where… Who are you, son?" the man said, groggily.

"My name is Rear Admiral William Black, and we are here to rescue you, sir."

The Vice Admiral looked around, and noticed the marines.

"You boys might want to leave, before they come back. How many ships do you have?"

"We have one battleship, four cruisers, and seven heavy fighter wings, but exactly who are you talking about, sir?"

"Well, I don't really know. They were models of the… Bretonian design, but… they were far more than we ever knew they had. Unless the… Bretonians… had something we didn't."

He was dying quickly, Black knew that he had to get this crucial information out of him quickly, before they lost it forever.

"What did the Bretonians have? How did they beat you?"

"There were dozens of… battleships… more than I had ever seen… hundreds of fighters… too many… we couldn't… too many."

With each pause, he had to gasp for air, and small amounts of blood were visible in his mouth.

"How did they amass such a fleet? Where did it come from?"

"How am I supposed to know… son? Let the… intelligence guys figure that… out. Just… just… tell them."

"Tell them what?"

"Tell them…"

The blood was running freely from his mouth, and his breaths were becoming harder and harder to catch.

"What, what?"

"Tell them that… I did… I did… my duty. I fought 'em off… like a true… like a true Liberty officer."

With those last words, Vice Admiral Richardson died.

Black motioned to the marines around him, "Let's have a moment of silence for this brave man."

The men took of their hats and helmets, and prayed over the Admiral's body.  
When they finished, Black rummaged through the bridge, gathering up all the documents he could find, and taking the ID tags of the dead.

He was about to leave the command post, when he got a call from Fox on his personal comm.

"Admiral, sir?" Fox said.

"What is it?"

"We just picked something up on our long distance scopes. You might want to have a look at it."

"Send it to my datapad."

"Roger, sending now."

An image appeared on the screen of Black's datapad. It was a fuzzy scan, but it showed him exactly what he needed to know. He saw the unmistakable shape of the bow of a Bretonian battleship poking around an asteroid. He knew what was going to happen next.

"Men, let's get off this ship! Now!" he called to the marines.

They all ran to the lift, which they took down to the docking bay level. They began jogging towards the bay. Black called Commander Gordon, and told him to ready his pilots for a quick launch.

Seconds later, Fox called Black on the comm.

"Admiral, we have picked up several new contacts. Seems to be more ships of the same type as the first."

"Prepare to hold them off until my party returns. Then, we will run for it."

"Roger."

Black picked up speed. He was a Navy officer, not accustomed to running much at all, but his marines were much better, and were able to easily keep up.  
They reached the docking bay door. It hissed open.

"Go, go, go! Get off this ship now!" Black called to the pilots. Engines began warming up.

"Admiral," Fox said on the comm, "the enemy ships are launching ships to attack us. The battleships are targeting the ship you are on!"

"Just keep them busy for a second!" Black called, as he ran up the transport's ramp.

He entered the cockpit.

"Get us out of here!" Black yelled to the pilots.

The docking bay doors slid open. But, there were Bretonian transports entering the bay! They moved towards Black's ships that were just about to lift off.

"Admiral, there are…" said Fox.

"I know!" Black yelled. "Fire on those ships, Delta Wing!"

"Roger."

The Defenders' Justice cannons ripped into the transports, but they weren't able to destroy any before a few had set down. Three transports had set down near the Liberty ships, and the rest remained aloft, blocking Black's only way of exit. Bretonian troops poured out of the transports, moving towards Black's ship.

"Marines, prepare for action!"

Just then, the Bretonian troops got to the Liberty transport. They ripped the rear hatch open, and began firing. The marines responded with fire of their own, and the back of Black's ship became a battleground. It would only be a few moments until the Bretonian troops overwhelmed the marines and entered the cockpit. Even worse, Black could not take off and launch into space until the rear hatch was closed, and the Bretonian troops were all over down by the hatch controls.

Black peered around the corner, into the rear compartment. Laser fire was everywhere, but his marines were holding their own, despite their lack of cover. He drew his pistol and fired several shots into the mass of blue and red clothed Bretonian troops. He saw one go down, but another one took his place.  
"Delta 3 is down!" came a cry over the comm. The transports were fighting back.

"Sir, the battleships are firing!"

"The Glory is listing!"

"Get these fighters off me!"

Black could here that the battle outside wasn't going well either.

"Sir, we have a hole!" Gordon said.

Black looked out the front viewscreen. Only one transport remained to block them.

Then, the ship shook tremendously. The Bretonian battleships had hit them. No time left.

"Go, get out of here!" Black cried to the transport pilots and to Gordon.

The ship accelerated. But the hatch was still open! They would all die once they cleared the airlock. Well, at least the Bretonians could get reinforcements.  
He glanced back into the rear. Only a handful of enemy forces remained, but most of his marines were dead as well. Gripping his pistol, Black ran back into the rear. Firing madly as he ran, he sprinted for the door controls. His marines assisted him with a volley of their own. The Bretonians were overwhelmed. Black reached the controls, and slammed his hand down on the close button. The doors hissed shut, just as they exited the airlock.

Black glanced around as he caught his breath. Blood pooled on the floor. Only seven marines were left. The Lieutenant was not among them. Black reached down and picked up one of the dead marine's rifles. Just in case they had another battle. Black walked back into the cockpit. He looked out on a massive battle among the debris of an earlier battle. The Bretonian battleships fired again. The lances of pure, destructive energy hit the derelict battleship and blew it into pieces. Whatever Bretonian forces were left aboard were dead now. The Bretonian fleet was huge. A dozen battleships, and swarms of fighter attacked the relatively small Liberty fleet. The transport went as fast as it possibly could towards the Jefferson. Bretonian fighters deviated from their courses to attack his transport and the three fighters that were protecting it. Space came alive with the dazzling and deadly flashes of energy surrounding his transport. The pilots were swerving back and forth to try and present a difficult target, but it wasn't making much of a difference. The ship was taking hits.

"Fox, clear us to dock, NOW!" Black shouted over the comm.

"Ok, the docking bay doors are opening now."

The flaming transport streaked towards the Jefferson. Black didn't think that they would be able to stop in time to get in the bay.

"Cover us, Gordon!" Black called into the comm.

"Roger."

On the rear view cam, Black saw the three Defenders turn around and open fire on the swarm of Bretonian ships chasing them. The pilots hit the reverse thrust hard, and Black flew forward into the instrument panel. He fell back into his seat, secured the rifle, and strapped in. The reverse thrusters slowed the ship, but it wasn't helping enough. They were going to overshoot. The entire ship strained with the battle between the momentum and the thrusters. The ship slowly began to lose speed. As they passed under the Jefferson, the pilots pulled hard on the flight yokes, and the ship slipped through the docking bay port. Black braced for impact. Still going at a high speed, the flaming ship streaked into the docking bay, hit another transport, and slammed into a wall at over 200 kilometers per hour.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight – Guts and Glory **

Crewmen raced to the crash site with water hoses. The ship's engines were on fire, and they needed to put out the fire before it spread to the cockpit and rear bay. They managed to get the fire under control, even as men ran into the ship to try and find survivors. One by one, the men came back out, carrying bodies. They loaded them onto repulsion stretchers, and took them down to the medical bay. The bow of the ship had broken through the wall and was partly sticking into the ready room. Fortunately, there had been no one in the room at the time.

One of the last to come out of the ship was Admiral Black. He was rushed to the medical bay. Doctors got to work on healing his grievous wounds.

On the bridge, Captain Fox had gotten word of Admiral Black's condition, and had assumed command of the task force. Following Black's last orders, he retreated back to the trade lane. He recalled all the surviving fighters, which were few in number, and took the trade lane back to Freeport 4. He hurriedly took the next lane back towards the California Jump Gate. The Bretonian fleet pursued him. When he reached the gate, he sent his fleet through one by one.

As he was about to go through, the Bretonian fleet came out of the tradelane. They opened fire, and the Jefferson's already weak shield collapsed. Finally, the ship got through the gate, and Fox took the fleet towards Planet Los Angeles.  
They arrived, and Fox gave a quick report to the captain of the Battleship Yukon. Then, Fox was able to take an inventory of the task force. The Cruisers Glory and Providence were lost. The Intrepid was heavily damaged, but had survived due to Captain Morrison's excellent skill. The Reconciliation was also damaged, but Admiral Black's former ship had survived as well. As for fighters, there were few survivors. The cruisers' escort fighters had been decimated, with only one survivor. The Jefferson's fighters had had slightly better luck, with two survivors from Alpha wing, one from Beta wing, and one from Gamma wing. Delta wing, Black's chosen escort, had been completely decimated. Five fighters, two cruisers, and one battleship were what remained.

Fox called down to the medical bay. He wanted to check up on the condition of the crash survivors, especially Black. The chief doctor told him that Black was in critical condition, but was alive. There were three marines that were still alive, and one of the pilots had survived. It was good news.

Moments later, Fox was given orders from the captain of the Yukon. He was to report to Naval Headquarters on Manhattan and give his report. Then, he was to go to Norfolk and have his ships repaired.

Fox gave the needed orders, and the task force departed.

Two weeks later, Rear Admiral William Black awoke from his coma in a medical ward on Planet Manhattan. He had no idea what had happened. He was confused, since his memory was temporarily gone. After a few hours, it all started coming back. The ship, the dying admiral, the battle, the crash, the horrible things re-entered his mind. How long had he been out? What had happened after? Had Fox been able to save the rest of the task force?

As he was contemplating these things, Captain Fox walked in. Fox told him about everything that had happened since the crash, and Black approved of Fox's actions. They were on Manhattan, Fox told him, and the ships were at Norfolk receiving repairs. They had been granted three weeks of R+R, and then they would receive a new set of deployment orders, as well as new ships to fill out the fleet. Black had plenty of time to recover from his wounds.

After Fox left, Black switched on the tele-screen. It was on the Colony News Station, so Black decided to keep it there so he could find out what he had missed.

"In urgent news, Bretonia has moved into Omega-3, as well as Magellan and Cortez. They have officially declared war on Liberty and Rheinland after Liberty declared war on them because two of their fleets were reportedly attacked in Magellan two weeks ago by Bretonian forces."

"In response to the Bretonian movements, Rheinland has moved into Omega-7. This is likely to become a long stand-off, because both houses have large fleets. Wait… We have breaking news! Bretonia has moved into Omega-7, and is attacking the Rheinland fleet there! We have cameras on-station."

The view switched over to a camera feed from Omega-7. It was of the Omega-3 Jumpgate area. Five Rheinland battleships and dozens of smaller ships massed around the jumpgate. Then, one Bretonian battleship came out of the gate. Then another, and another. Soon, there were dozens of Bretonian battleships and a huge battle took place. Black watched in horror as the Bretonian ships overwhelmed the Rheinland ships and destroyed them quickly. Then, the Bretonian ships moved on. The feed cut, and it went back to the Colony News newsroom, where the anchors looked very distressed. Black switched off the screen, not wanting to see any more.

Three days later, Black was released from the hospital, and he felt great. He had an award ceremony to attend before he could return to his task force at Norfolk.

At the ceremony, Black, the marines, and the pilot got Purple Hearts. Black also got another Liberty Cross, for the valuable information he had provided to the Navy, and Fox got a Navy Star of Honor for his part in the battle. The three marines advanced to the rank of Sergeant.

A week later, the new set of deployment orders came in. When Black opened them, sitting in an office on Manhattan, he nearly dropped them from the surprise. Dresden! They were going to Rheinland space!

As Black read through the report, he grew more and more afraid. Things were far worse then he had previously thought. Black's task force was getting deployed abroad to Dresden, while Task Force 5, under Admiral Stafford, was going to Stuttgart. Things had really degraded in Rheinland. Piracy had run rampant, and the Rheinland Navy had to fight pirates while guarding their home against an impeding Bretonian attack from Omega-7. They had asked for help from Liberty, which had to protect two borders already. Liberty had sent the two fleets to try to help their allies.

Intel had reported that Dresden was a system plagued by piracy. The infamous Red Hessian pirates were believed to have a base there, and they were constantly attacking bases of both Daumann and Kruger in that system. Recently the attacks had stepped up, and Rheinland had considered abandoning the system.

His mission was to meet up with the Rheinland battleship Barbarossa, and it's fleet, and protect the Dresden system at all costs, from Bretonia, or from the Hessians. Black's lost fighter wings were getting replaced, and one cruiser, the Gettysburg, was going to join their task force. Also, since they were going abroad on an important mission, they were going to get one of the new Liberty destroyers to replace the other lost cruiser. The destroyers were similar in shape to the battleships, but were smaller, and had weaker armor. In addition, they could not carry fighters, but they had very powerful weapons, and a powerful engine. It would be a good addition to Black's task force.

The next day, Black gathered his force and headed to Dresden. Whatever waited for him there, he was ready. He wanted another crack at Bretonia, and he knew that this mission could very well be his best chance at that. If he failed, then Rheinland would fall, and then Liberty, his home, would fall to his enemy as well. It was victory at all costs.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine – The Last March**

Black loved watching the kaleidoscope of light as his ship passed through the jumpgate. He sat in his command chair and just stared at it for a while. The journey was a brief one, and soon the ship popped out of the other end of the gate, in the Dresden system.

The system looked wild and untamed, and was surrounded by brownish clouds where Daumann Heavy Industries and Kruger Minerals supposedly harvested valuable commodities.

He called up his sensor system on one of the arms of his chair, and found that all of his ships were accounted for. He ordered the ships to take the trade lane to Pirna Border Station, where they were supposed to meet up with the Rheinland 5th Fleet.

The Liberty Task Force met up with the Rheinland Fleet moments later. Admiral Black stood up in the command desk of the Jefferson, waiting to receive a message from the Rheinland ships. There were many of them, two of the giant Rheinland battleships, three of their heavy cruisers, five gunboats, and about six squadrons of the mighty Rheinland Valkyere heavy fighters.

His communications officer called out, "An incoming hail from the Rheinland ships!"

"Patch it up to the main screen, Lieutenant."

The large screen in front of Black burst to life, revealing an impeccably groomed Rheinland Admiral, in a dark green dress uniform. He spoke in a think Rheinlander accent.

"Welcome to Dresden, Admiral. We are pleased to see that our comrades from Liberty have arrived safely. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Vice Admiral Hans Schwarkzkof."

"Thank you, Admiral, I am Rear Admiral William Black, commander of this Task Force. It is a pleasure being here."

"Good, Good. Pirna has surrendered its services to us, so I am making this our headquarters."

"Fine by me, bit allow me to ask, are you the overall commander of this operation, or is this a collaborative effort?"

"I was hoping to work together, if that was not a problem."

"No problem at all, I was just checking. If we plan to stay here, then let us go aboard the station with our captains to make plans on how we wish to deal with our situation."

"A fine idea, I can already tell that I will enjoy working with you."

"The pleasure is mine, Admiral Schwarzkof."

"Then let us meet again on the station."

The screen clicked off. Black put calls in to each of his ships, and then called newly promoted Commodore Fox to go to a transport to take to the station. Fox had gotten promoted after the last ceremony simply because the Navy had been forced to make some quick promotions to recoup for the loss of many of its men in recent battles. With West Point turning out students at the usual slow pace, the Navy needed to replace many deceased high brass officers, like Richardson, to keep the military running smoothly.

Black got on the transport with Fox, and they made the quick transit to the station. In the docking bay, they met up with the rest of the captains, Morrison and the other two from the cruisers, and a newer face, Captain Serena Fox, Commodore James Fox's sister. She was in command of the new destroyer, the Vengeance. She was merely eighteen, a fresh graduate of West Point. She had graduated at the top of her class, and was considered by man in Liberty to be a child prodigy when it came to commanding ships. She had been given command of the Vengeance, a brand-new destroyer, and had requested a place in the famous task force of Admiral Black, with her brother, and she was accepted to fill the gap. The Navy wanted James to watch over their most promising new captain, and that was part of the reason they promoted him.

Serena Fox was of the quiet type, and she rarely talked to the other captains, except her brother. That was broken when she was at the helm of her ship. When she led the ship into battle, her fellow classmates had reported, "Her eyes had turned to a fire hot enough to burn through a battleship's armor." Black had never seen her perform in a combat scenario, but if half the things he had heard about her were true, then she would make a fine addition to his task force.  
The younger Fox was very beautiful. She had a thin, tall frame, long blond hair, which she hid behind a cap whenever in the presence of a superior officer, because it was longer than regulation length, and a beautiful face. Many of the younger men in the task force had already fallen for her, but she seemed to want nothing to do with them. The only person she ever talked to privately was her brother, who was an obvious mentor for her. The elder Fox was similar to her, with blond hair of the same color, and had the same tall, thin frame. James was in his late twenties, though, so he appeared older than his young sister.

As a group, the six officers walked to the briefing room where Schwarzkof had told them to gather. As they entered, Black saw that there was a long table in the dark room. Over a dozen Rheinland officers were seated around it, with Schwarzkof at the head of the table. He smiled as the Liberty officers came in.

"Sit, sit. Enjoy our fine refreshments, provided by the station. We will begin our meeting shortly."

Black looked at the table. Only now, at a close range, could he see all the food on it. Fresh fruit, meats, and appetizers sat before him. His stomach growled, since he had not yet eaten today. He knew that many of his officers were in similar situations, so he encouraged them to enjoy the Rheinlanders' hospitality.

The officers ate for ten minutes, and Schwarzkof opened the meeting.

"How do we propose protecting this system?" Black asked.

"Our scouts have found a jumphole to Omega-11 here. We are considering the fact that Bretonia might launch a simultaneous attack on both Dresden and Stuttgart. In that case, we would be lucky, since the Bretonians surely value Stuttgart more than Dresden. That would mean that their smaller force would be launched here."

"Not likely," said Serena Fox, "the Bretonians are no fools. While Stuttgart may have more bases, and have a valuable planet, Dresden is truly the economic backbone of Rheinland. There are vast amounts of metals and other minerals mined here, and those goods are what you use to make your battleships, and to power your factories. The Daumann and Kruger facilities here are very important to Rheinland, more than any government official knows or cares to admit. I think that they will send the bulk of their forces here."

Black was very surprised, obviously Serena knew her stuff.

"That is very logical," said Schwarzkof, "but it is obvious that you do not know Rheinland, which is my house, the one I was born in, and the one I still live in and protect. Dresden is a backwater system for Rheinland, and one that they do not care about. The metals here are not very important, since we rely on the Omegas for those. We considered abandoning this system because it was so worthless!"

"Don't you see? It was all a trick by Rheinland, and they just want the Bretonians to THINK that the systems is unimportant, when really…"

Black was forced to listen to the debate for over thirty minutes. Serena and Schwarzkof were getting very much into the argument, and were both fervently fighting for their opinions. Serena had obviously done a lot of study on the houses and their economies, probably because of the war.

Finally, they finished. They had come to a consensus, without asking anyone else, that they would simply evenly divide up the fleets, and one part would go to the gate, and the other would go to the Omega-11 hole. It was such a simple solution that Black could have told them that before they had even started the long debate.

So, Schwarzkof split up the Rheinland fleet, while Black split up his. Black would lead the force to the jumphole, with the Jefferson, The Vengeance with Serena Fox, the other Rheinland battleship under Captain Marc Schlieden, one of the heavy cruisers, and three of the gunboats, as well as about four sqadrons of fighters. Schwarzkof took the rest of his and Black's fleets, and the two forces parted ways, each headed for sentry duty at the two known ways into the system.

Black's group took up a position just outside the cloud that led to the jumphole. They would monitor the entire cloud with sensors and fighter scouts. Once the Bretonian ships came through, they'd be ready. Until then, it promised to be boring sentry duty.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten – Duel of Angels **

It had been three long, boring days since the force had arrived at their position near the jumphole. Every single officer and crewman was on edge, and most were tired of waiting for the battle that they all knew was coming. Sensors were being carefully monitored for any sign of a Bretonian or Kusari ship. Nothing had been sighted.

Admiral Black was sitting in the officer's bar of the Jefferson. The room was empty, except for Serena and James Fox sitting across from him. The three officers had had little to do except sit and talk for the three days since they arrived.

Both Serena and James were always eager to here tales of Black's early days, in Shikoku, and at Buffalo. The two operations had become rather famous in Liberty, especially among the younger Naval officers, like Serena. She told Black that they had spent hours in class at West Point learning about both of the missions. Both of the young officers wanted to hear the story from Black's point of view, and he was happy to tell them, considering that he had nothing better to do.

"And so as the second Kusari fleet came in, I knew there would be nothing we could do to stop them. I sent our fighters out of there, and then ordered the first cruiser through, just as the Kusaris opened up on us…"

All of a sudden, the voice of one of the bridge officers, who had been assigned to watch, came on the ship's loudspeaker.

"Attention, attention! Code Orange activated. All men to battle stations! All officers to their ships!"

The three officers leaped up. Black ran to the command post, James to the bridge, and Serena to the docking bay, to take a quick shuttle ride to her ship.

This, the moment they had all waited for, had arrived.

Black stepped out of the lift, and jogged over to his chair.

"Lieutenant, please fill me in," he said to the young bridge officer who had made the call.

"Admiral, we picked up something on our long range scanners, and the fighter wing that we sent to investigate hasn't returned. They were due back ten minutes ago. I decided that it was a threat," she said.

"Good call. Please move the force closer to the field. Keep the scanners fixed on the area where you picked up the first signal. Get me a connection to Captain Schlieden."

The face of the Rheinland officer popped up on the main screen in front of Black.

"Admiral, please tell me what is going on," said Schlieden.

"We have picked something up on our scanners. We are tracking it and following it. You might want to follow us if you want some action."

A smile appeared on the face of the Rheinlander.

"I cannot wait to get my hands on those fools who attacked my beloved house! We will crush them. Schlieden out."

The screen winked out.

"Now, get me a connection to Admiral Schwarzkof."

Schwarzkof appeared on the screen next.

"Admiral, we have picked up readings in the cloud. We are going to intercept. You may want to send part of your force to join us, because I think this is it," Black said.

"Fine, I will divert a few ships to help you. How about…"

Someone yelled at Schwarzkof from off the screen.

"What? Prepare for action!" Schwarzkof said to the person, "Admiral, we are under attack! Bretonian ships are coming out of the jumpgate! There are so many! I will need every ship I have, so you will have to make do with your own fleet."

Then, with a cry of, "For Rheinland!" the Admiral sent his ship into action. On the Jefferson, the screen winked out.

Black knew that the Bretonians were coming, and when they arrived, they would pull out all the stops.

"Prepare for immediate action!" Black called to the officers in the area.

"Sir, we have found the contacts! They are 3K from our current position, and closing rapidly!"

Black looked out the bow viewport, and could make out the shape of a group of several Bretonian battleships moving towards the Jefferson at cruise speed.

"Launch fighters!" Black called down to the docking bay, "recall all our scouts!" he cried to an officer.

"Sir, Bretonian ships are in range."

"Fire, fire, fire!" Black called.

A tremendous volley of fire hit the Bretonian ships. They dropped out of cruise speed.

"Get me connected to the bridge, to Sclieden, and to Serena, now!" Black yelled. He needed to be able to give orders.  
The main screen split into three sections, each with the face of one of the officers.

"Sclieden, keep your force here and lay down a sheet of fire on the enemy. Serena, gather our Liberty forces and follow me. James, take us five points starboard."

All three acknowledged, and got to their assigned tasks.

The Jefferson lurched, and began moving to the starboard. Swarms of Bretonian fighters flew out of the ships, meeting the Liberty and Rheinland ships in battle. The Jefferson and the rest of the Liberty ships moved around the Bretonian ships, which were concentrating their fire on the more powerful Rheinland ships. The Liberty ships moved fast, firing as they went, until they got behind the Bretonians. They launched a tremendous volley at the enemy, and Black saw one of the enemy battleships explode. There were still five more battleships, but they were all weakened.

One of the gunboats exploded, falling to a torpedo launched by one of the Bretonian ships. Another Bretonian battleship succumbed to a Rheinland volley.

"My ship's hull is failing!" shouted Serena over the comm.

"Hold on!" said James.

The Jefferson moved to block fire from hitting the Vengeance.

"Release your nanobots, Serena," Black advised.

"I already did, sir. My ship's hull has been repaired."

Just then, another Bretonian force came out of the field, and began firing on the rear of the Liberty fleet. Another group of battleships had entered the fray, and the odds appeared to be highly against Black.

"Hull integrity failing! I can't hold on! Ahhh!"

Another fighter down. Then, another large explosion, Black looked up, and saw that the Rheinland heavy cruiser had also been destroyed.

"Commodore, get this ship turned around and firing on the other enemy fleet!"

The ship turned again. Serena had already engaged the other fleet, moving her fast ship across their line of fire, shooting like crazy. Black looked at her on the screen, and watched her command her ship with finesse and grace. The Bretonians fired, but could not hit the fast moving ship.

The Jefferson opened up on the second fleet. Despite the amount of fire it took, the Jefferson held together. The shields had been severely drained, but they were still online and operable.

Black glanced over at the sensors. The fighter battle had gone very poorly. Dozens of Bretonian Crusaders attacked three Liberty and two Rheinland fighters. Seeing that the fighters couldn't win, he ordered them to return to the Jefferson, even the Rheinland ones. The fighters retreated, with the Bretonians hot on their tail. Even with covering fire from the Jefferson, one of the Liberty fighters was shot down. The Bretonian fighters, once they realized that their prey had escaped, turned on the Vengeance.

A flurry of torpedoes was launched at the destroyer. They hit all over the hull and engines. One torpedo managed to get up the engine pipe and detonate inside the engine. The engine was utterly destroyed, and the Vengeance floated, dead in space.

Once she realized what had happened, Serena knew that she had no choice. Black watched as she ordered the crew to abandon ship. Before she left the bridge, Black told her to take a transport over to the Jefferson, where he and her brother were. She told him she'd try to make it to a transport. She then switched off her screen, and her section on Black's screen went blank.

"Admiral, all our gunboats have been destroyed, and our hull is failing. We are being swarmed by fighters and battleships. I am afraid we will not survive. We are abandoning ship. Goodbye." The words of Sclieden were filled with fear, but a sort of courage and satisfaction in knowing that there was nothing left to do. The man had fulfilled his duty. That portion of the screen went blank as well. Now James was the only one left.

Black watched out the viewports as both ships launched dozens of escape pods. A small transport launched from the tiny docking bay of the Vengeance. The ship made it about halfway to the Jefferson, when a Bretonian fighter moved in on its tail, and shot it down. One tiny escape pod launched from it as well. It was so sad. So many people lost.

"Fox, pull in as many of those pods as you possibly can!"

"Aye-aye, sir."

Black watched as the tiny tractor beams reached out and grabbed several life pods from the Vengeance. The transport's pod was out of range. So were all the pods from the Rheinland ships.

"Sir, they are moving in for the kill! We don't have any time left. Our mission is failed, there is no way we can win."

"Silence, Commodore Fox! No one will tell me when I have lost! We can escape from here, and save many lives too, if you just listen."

"Do you have a plan, sir?"

"A damn good one. I want you to go to Pirna. If I am not there when you arrive, then go straight to the jumpgate, gather any of Schwarzkof's survivors, and get the hell out of this system."

"Meet up with you? You aren't going out there, are you?"

"Heck yes I am!"

With that, Black switched off the main screen, and ran to the lift. Without a word to the other officers in the command post, he took the lift down to the docking bay level. He ran into the bay, and found what he was looking for. There were only four ships in the bay; the ships he had recalled a few minutes ago. He ran to one of the Rheinland heavy fighters, hopped in, and powered up. He received exit clearance, and lifted off of the deck. The airlock door opened, and Black zoomed out into the battle beyond. Things always looked different from the cockpit of a fighter than from the deck of a battleship. Black locked on to the nearest escape pod, and hit the afterburners. The ship accelerated towards the pod, and once he was in range, Black tractored it in.

One life saved, but it was nowhere near enough. He continued through the area around the abandoned Vengeance, which had been ignored by the Bretonians. He picked up a grand total of seven pods there. Then, he went for the area where he had seen the transport get shot down. Sure enough, a single lifepod floated in space next to the wreckage of the transport. Black tractored it in. He  
headed for the Rheinland wreckage.

Before he got there, a Bretonian battleship jumped in on his tail. It shot at him, and soon enough, his computer starting shouting that his shield was down. He ducked and weaved, but he knew that he would be destroyed before he had a chance to get any lifepods. That left him with only one option. He pulled the fighter into a tight loop. Heading back towards the battleship now, he passed right over the top of it. He inverted and flipped back around, and aimed straight at the main gun and opened fire. Powerful lances of green energy erupted from his guns. The energy bolts struck the gun, and blew it apart. The docking bay doors opened and a wing of fighters rushed out. He hit the thrusters, and raced through the outer airlock door just as it closed. The inner door was still open, so he went through it as well.

It looked like the pictures he had seen of Bretonian docking bays. A large circular landing pad was in the middle, and several others were off behind walls. A few mechanics and pilots ran around, obviously afraid of the giant Rheinland fighter hovering in their docking bay. Black opened fire on the men, and made short work of them. Once the motion sensors were clear, Black set the ship down on the pad. Drawing his pistol, Black climbed out of the ship. He walked around to the rear of the ship, and opened the cargo hold door. He carefully removed the one-person lifepods from the hold, eight in all, and set them down on the deck. He shut the door. The fighters that had launched had not returned, so Black figured that they had chosen to go after the Jefferson.

After opening up all the pods, which were roughly the size of a person, Black waited for their occupants to regain consciousness and climb out of the pods. The pods made their occupants unconscious so they could survive long periods of time in vacuum. The occupants would regain their consciousness once they were in an oxygen-rich environment.

One by one, Liberty crewmen began emerging from the pods. The seven from the Vengeance came to, but the one from the transport, the one Black thought was Serena, was still unconscious.

The crewmen were exhausted and scared, but glad to be alive, nonetheless. Black was glad to see that each was carrying a sidearm. Each one was disoriented, and were very shocked when Black informed them that they were on a Bretonian battleship.

So far, Black had been lucky that no one had come into the bay. That luck wouldn't last long. He considered leaving the pod where it was, and coming back for it later, but he felt an obligation that, if the unconscious person was Serena, to return her to James alive.

Finally, the person in the pod stirred. The person climbed out, and Black was glad to see that it was Serena Fox, alive but shaken. She nodded to him, and then asked where they were, and Black explained the situation to her.  
They both agreed that, despite the fact that James would be leaving the system soon, this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. They could gather a lot of information on this ship, and perhaps ever commandeer it. The odds were long, very long in fact, but Black and Serena thought that it would be their best chance.

Black sealed and locked the fighter. The group headed out, going for the ship's bridge, and they were willing to give anything to get there, and get back to Liberty with their prize. Everything hinged on their success.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven- We Won't Go Quietly **

Black dived around the corner. He jumped up, leveled his rifle, and dispatched two more guards. They had to be on the right track now.

The small party of Liberty attackers had been wandering the halls of this battleship for nearly an hour now. It was very exhausting, and they still had not found the bridge. They had found plenty of guards to fight, however, and there seemed to be more of the guards along this path.

By now, the small group had been whittled even smaller, down to only Black, Serena, and two crewmen: Donavan and Reeves. Each person now had a rifle that they had found when they had stumbled across a small armory fifteen minutes ago. Black had also picked up a can of neural stun gas, in case it was needed. They had been hopelessly lost, and none of them had any idea about how to get to the bridge in a Bretonian battleship.

Black ran ahead, and spotted a group of three crewmen running down the hall towards him. He gestured for the other three to follow him, and he ducked into a service passage.

The crewmen stormed past, and kept running down the hallway that Black and crew had just come down. 

Black looked down the dimly lit passage that they were in. It went on for a long ways. Plus, there were no guards. Also, as Black checked his datapad, it seemed to lead to the bow of the ship. He motioned for the others to follow him, and he began walking down the passage.

He reached a dead end, and before he turned around to head back, he heard something above him.

There were distinct voices coming from the top of the passage. He looked up, and saw light streaming through a grate in the ceiling. Men were standing in the room above, talking.

Black leaned up, and peered through the grate. It was the bridge! A giant window covered most of one wall, as a similar one did on the Jefferson's bridge. Rows of computer consoles dotted the sidewalls, with technicians at each one. At the back, a large door stood, with guards at each side. In the center, near the grate, two men stood, talking. One was shorter, and a bit on the heavyset side. The other man was tall and thin. They both seemed to be of fairly high ranking, since their rank insignias had many bars, and their Bretonian uniforms were well decorated.

"This system seems to be the ideal meeting place for our fleet. The small enemy presence was defeated, with only two ships escaping. They will warn those in New Berlin, but there is nothing left to stop us. We have destroyed the entire Rheinland fleet, and what remains cannot even control the panicked civilians," said the tall man.

"True, but they still could send to Liberty for help, sir," the short man, obviously the subordinate, said.

"Didn't you hear? We sent the reserve fleets into California yesterday! The Liberty fleet was soundly defeated, and now our Kusari allies and ourselves are closing in on New York even as we speak. Soon, Liberty will be ours as well. No one stands to defeat us. The two weakest houses, the ones who were regarded as worthless and pathetic, are now the sole rulers of Sirius!"

Black and the others reeled at this news. Liberty had lost California?

Impossible! The 1st Battlegroup had been sent there, along with the 3rd Fleet! There was no way that the Bretonians could have beaten them there, no way!  
The men above continued. "You see? We gather the main fleet here, crush New Berlin, move through Hamburg and Kepler, and then attack New York simultaneously with the reserve fleet, and the Kusaris from Colorado!" the tall one said.

As he listened, Black heard a rumble, and began to feel a strong breeze from beneath him. He looked down, and saw that there was another grate under him, and a fan beneath that. He suddenly got a brilliant idea.

He told the rest of his party to move a good distance back down the shaft, and pulled out the neural gas container. He pulled the pin, set it on the grate beneath him, and sprinted down the shaft, as fast as his feet would carry him.  
A cloud of gas rose up from the canister, and through the grate on the top, and into the room above. Black couldn't hear the men on the bridge, but he knew that they were now gagging as the potent gases knocked them out.

He allowed himself a quick grin. He glanced back at his party, and noticed that the rest of them had smiles on their faces as well.

They waited a good two minutes, until the gases had vanished, and then they moved back down to the end of the shaft. Black reached up, and pushed open the grate. The gases were gone off the bridge as well, but all the men on the bridge were knocked out cold. Black had picked up enough from the two men's conversation to figure out a plan.

Followed closely by his party, Black moved to the main control panel. He knew that they had very little time before the men on the bridge came to, and they would have to be long gone by the time that happened.

He was glad to find that the computer was active, and that he had full access to all of the ship's systems. He pulled up the communications menu, and sent a message to what he assumed to be the main fleet, still in Omega-11. He told them that they had secured the system, and that the fleet should amass in the system. He quickly received an affirmative response, and smiled. They were playing right into his hands.

He quickly opened up the piloting menu. He set a course for the dead center of the system, set the engines to 300, and locked the course and speed. Then, a message flashed up on the screen, informing him that the ship's reactor would overload in ten minutes if he did not lower the speed.

Black smiled. Just as he had planned. Alarms went on throughout the ship, and he motioned for the rest of his party to proceed back down into the service corridor. Before he locked the console, Black sealed off all the doors he could, and found a good path to the docking bay. He sealed off the main door to the bridge, and locked down every exit from the ship, with the exception of the main docking bay. He sealed off every entrance to the docking bay, with the exception of another service passage that he was planning to use to get into the bay.

Once all of this was finished, Black locked down the console. Nobody would be able to change anything now.

He jumped down into the corridor, just as the first Bretonians started stirring on the bridge.

"Let's go," he whispered to the three others.

They followed him down the passage. Right above him, Black heard alarms and footfalls. He knew, however, that the Bretonians would have a very difficult time getting onto the bridge, and even if they did, they would have an even tougher time getting the reactor offline. The only thing that mattered now was getting himself and his companions off the ship. Ten minutes wasn't a lot of time, but it would have to be enough. The rest was up to luck and Black's navigation skills.

He urged the others to move faster. The clock was ticking. Already, he could hear and feel a rumble beneath him. The sprinted down the passage, into a main hall, and into another passage. Black checked his chronometer as they ran. Just five minutes. He ran harder.

Through another main hall, past a pair of bewildered crewmen, and into the docking bay, they ran. They stopped in their tracks once they entered the bay. The main doors had opened, and the wing of Bretonian fighters that Black had seen leave was entering the bay! Black grabbed Serena and jumped back into a corner. Reeves and Donavan caught the message, and joined them in the corner.

The Bretonian ships, Crusaders, set down. Their hatches opened, and a Bretonian pilot came out of each. Black caught a bit of their conversation.

"But why did they call us in, then?"

"I don't know! The captain said something about a reactor something-or-another."

"What's that all about?"

"No idea, he probably—hey! What is that?"

He was pointing to the Rheinland ship that Black had landed in the bay when he had arrived.

"Man, that sure is nice. Those Rheinlanders always did have the better ships."

"Yeah, I wonder how the boys captured it?"

"No idea. Let's go to the bridge and see what's up."

The Bretonians crossed to the door that led to one of the main hallways to the ship. They were a fair way from it, since the cavernous docking bay was very long.

Black whispered to each person. He held up three fingers, then two, then one, then he ran for the Rheinland ship. The others each ran for a Bretonian ship. They took care to be quiet as they opened the hatches and climbed in, right as the Bretonians reached the door. They looked up in surprise when it did not open. Black had made sure to lock it down while on the bridge. Right then, Black started the engines, and the Bretonians turned. Three other engines started near him, and Black activated his belly thrusters. His ship was propelled off the deck, and his targeting came online. He swung his cross-eye to right next to the Bretonians, and squeezed off a shot. The deck next to the Bretonians became a black mess, and they, who had originally been planning to try to get their ships back, turned tail and ran to a far corner of the bay.  
Black checked his chronometer again. Less than a minute!

"Serena, activate the docking sequence!" he called over the comm, knowing that only a Bretonian ship would be able to open the bay doors. She acknowledged, and the big inner doors began to open. The four ships flew into the airlock, and the inner doors shut behind them. The outer doors opened, and the sight that they saw was incredible.

Space had turned brilliantly bright. Yellow light streamed everywhere. The battleship was flying right into the sun. The mighty sheets of hull armor were melting away, and the battleship itself looked deformed. Parts near the engine were already glowing from the expanding reactor. Black activated his thrusters, and sped away as fast as he could. He activated cruise, and was glad to see that the other ships had already joined formation with him, slaving their navigation to him.

They sped away towards the nearest jumphole, one that had recently phase-aligned to Frankfurt.

They were only 3K from it when a brilliant flash of light came up behind them. Black turned to look, and saw a flash inside the sun's corona. The Bretonian battleship had just died. Then, another explosion, and another, and another. Then, finally, the most brilliant and bright of all. Black's viewscreen automatically darkened to its darkest setting. Black seemed to be swimming in a sea of light, and he could see nothing else. He screamed, just as he noticed the batch of color in front of him. Then, he was in a tunnel of color. Everything then went black.

Dresden, and all those in it, had died.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve- Unexpected Alliances **

It was quiet in the Frankfurt system. The millions of people in the system were now under Bretonian rule. No ships were allowed to travel through the system at will, except those of Bretonian origin.

A jumphole to the Dresden system was located in an obscure corner of the system. The hole began to glow with an incandescent light, which grew brighter and brighter. The hole began to dilate, and grow larger and larger. Then, a ship emerged from the hole, followed by two others. Their momentum carried them a ways from the jumphole. The ships seemed to be dead in space, as they were drifting, and under no power of their own.

Suddenly, a tongue of flame leapt from the jumphole, covering the entire surrounding area in a fire that was a yellowish color. When the fire went out, the jumphole had vanished, but the three ships were still there, albeit a bit burned.

Black awoke. His mind, as well as his ship, was drifting. He struggled to remember what had happened. Then, it all came back to him. The battleship, the Bretonian fleet, the explosion. He knew that the Dresden system was dead, and that the Bretonian fleet, who had massed there, was also dead. He knew that he was alive, but barely. His head felt like it had been split in half. His leg was stinging with pain, and his eyesight was very dull after the brilliance of the explosion.

He ran a systems check on his ship. Scanners and thrusters were active, but he had lost weapons, shielding, and auto navigation. His ship was barely functional, and he was floating in Frankfurt, which he had jumped to seconds before the shockwave from the supernova had reached him. The jump had damaged his ship, since the hole had collapsed right behind him. He wondered if the others had made it.

He pulled up his scanners, and saw that a pair of Bretonian fighters was drifting several hundred meters from him.

He pulled up schematics of both, and found that they were in about the same state as he was. He wasn't able to determine who was in them, however. He hailed them on the comm, but neither responded. He hoped that they were simply knocked out, as he had been, but they could be dead, too.

He waited, and pulled up a map of the system. They were located fairly close to Planet Frankfurt, and on the bottom half of the system. He knew that they needed to get to Hamburg, and from there to Liberty, so they could try to help protect the Liberty capital.

He had no idea how long he had been knocked out. When he checked his chronometer, he was shocked to see that it had been eight hours since Dresden's star had gone supernova! Much could have changed by now! 

He knew that Frankfurt had still been under control while he had been on the battleship, but Rheinland had been losing its grip on the already chaotic Rheinland populous. By now, unless things had changed drastically, the system would have descended into anarchy and the various pirates and revolutionaries in Rheinland would be running rampant. Rheinland would have already lost, even though Black had destroyed the attacking Bretonian fleet at Dresden. That would mean a difficult journey for a group of damaged fighters, travelling through lawless territory. They needed to hurry, while there still could be some sort of law in the system to protect them.

Just as he was thinking this, his scanners picked up a contact coming in from a nearby asteroid belt. He scanned them, and found that it was two wings of mixed ship types. Mostly Valkyries and Stilettos, the ships were headed right for Black and his party.

Black powered up all the weapons that he could on the damaged fighter, and flew out to meet the incoming ships. The ships drew closer and closer, and Black cut his engines and waited.

"Rheinland craft, this is Colonel Heinz of the Bundschuh. Please leave the area," came a voice on the comm, "we are here to kill Bretonians," he added.

"No! Those are NOT Bretonian pilots! Those are Liberty officers!" Black quickly responded.

The ships stopped several hundred meters from him.

"Please explain, then, why Liberty pilots are flying the ships of their enemies?" came the same voice.

"We came from Dresden. We boarded a Bretonian ship and managed to destroy their fleet there. We had to use a few of their ships to escape. My companions are currently unconscious. Please don't shoot!"

"Oh, so you are the reason that we lost contact with our men in Dresden. The comms are not secure any longer, so we will hear your story at a nearby base of ours."

"One question, first. Who are you?"

"We cannot tell you now, for fear that the enemies will hear us. We will inform you, however, that we hate the Bretonians more than you do."

Black found that hard to believe, but he trusted these men.

The ships went up to both of the Bretonian craft, and produced long tendrils of energy, similar to tractor beams, from their sterns. The energy touched the Bretonian fighters, and held on, unlike a tractor beam. The other ships began towing the Bretonian craft away, and Black followed the man who had broadcasted, assuming him to be the leader.

After about fifteen minutes of travelling, Black and the pirates arrived at a small asteroid base in a small debris field.

"Welcome to Brunschal Base, home of the Bundschuh Revolutionaries!" said the pirate leader.

The ships docked, and the pilots got out of their ships. The ones in the Border Worlds Stilettos were Red Hessians, and the Bundschuh were the ones in the Valkyries.

Black turned to the leader of the group.

"So, what is your story?" he asked.

The man motioned for Black to follow, and he, along with three other pilots, led Black to a nearby room. It was a fairly small room, and the man gathered a few chairs and arranged them in a circle.

"First of all, allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Colonel Heinz, and I am the commander of the coordinated Bretonian resistance in this system. We are a combined force of Bundschuh, Hessians, Unioners, and Corsairs who are totally opposed to the Bretonian/Kusari attacks. We are working alongside various other pirate groups, as well as large numbers of survivors of the Rheinland Military and Police who fled when the government collapsed. Other than us, the system is Bretonian controlled," the man said.

Black shook his hand.

"Now, before we go into specifics, we would like your report of what occurred in Dresden. We are working with Liberty, and I can assure you we can have a copy of your testimony in the Navy's hands in a few hours."

So, Black told them the entire story, from the arrival in Dresden to the meeting up with Heinz. It reminded him of the others.

"What of the others that I was with? Are they alright?" Black asked.  
"They are fine. The blond-haired woman and the dark-haired man were taken to the medical bay. You will be able to see them shortly."

Black was relieved. Serena and Reeves had made it. Poor Donavan, though. So it goes, he thought.

"Well, we think that your firestorm in Dresden, while very costly, was very successful. Our intelligence reports that the Bretonian Southern Fleet was decimated. Nine out of every ten ships from that group were in Dresden at the time you unleashed that supernova, and every single one was destroyed. This sector is barely held now, and Bretonia cannot send any more ships, since they are massing their full fleet for the attack on Liberty."

Black had known this was coming, but he had hoped that his actions in Dresden would have bought a little more time. He knew that he had to get back to Liberty. The last battle was coming, and he was not going to miss it. The future of Sirius hinged on that battle, and Black knew that every single man would be needed.

"Did a Liberty battleship pass through here a day or so ago?" Black asked, referring to the Jefferson.

"Yes, one did come through here alone yesterday afternoon. We did not bother it as it was headed towards Liberty space rapidly. Why do you ask?"

That relieved Black. At least the Jefferson had made it out of that hellhole.

"Well, that was my ship. I hoped she had made it back to Liberty," Black responded.

Heinz nodded. He understood completely.

"So, what happens now?" Black asked.

"With the Bretonian captors busy elsewhere, and their fleet here crushed, thanks to you, I would like to stage a revolution! Think about it, we could free Rheinland, restore the government, and then march to free Liberty," Heinz said.  
"But, I need to return to Liberty! The Bretonians and Kusaris could be attacking New York within the next few days! I am needed at my home."

"We will get you home before the attack, never fear. All we ask for is a little more help from you. Besides, your friends will not be fully healed for a few days. If we want to free Rheinland, we will need your help."

Black took a moment to think. He thought of men like Schleiden and Schwarzkof. Those men would have wanted him to save Rheinland. Then he thought of other men, like Admiral Johnson and Commodore Fox, and knew that they would want him back in Liberty as fast as humanly possible.

He had come to a decision.

"I will stay, and help you re-claim your home, Colonel Heinz. At least until my friends have recovered, that is."

Heinz beamed. Black had decided that Johnson and Fix could wait a few days.

He just hoped that Dresden had slowed the Bretonian final assault by a few days.

It was time for a revolution.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen- Revolutions **

Over the next week, Black took a leading role in the Rheinland revolution.

Through Heinz's skilled leadership and Black's shrewd tactics, the revolutionaries managed to secretly take control of Stuttgart, Frankfurt, and Hamburg. After only a week, they had amassed a fleet of over two hundred fighters of varying type, and a few capital ships that had survived the initial takeover. They had nearly the whole of free Rheinland supporting them, and they had a name: The Rheinland Liberation Army, or the RLA.

They had engaged in many hit and run attacks on Bretonian forces, and their network of spies knew the location of every Bretonian capital ship that was in Rheinland space at any given time. The RLA had successfully taken back the three systems and all bases and planets within them by simply using coordinated surprise attacks to destroy all the Bretonian ships in the system and then let the Rheinland people depose the Bretonian governors.

Now, it was time to attack New Berlin. As of yet, the RLA forces had managed to keep the Bretonian fleet bottled up in the system, because their spies had managed to plant rumors that there were giant fleets guarding the jumpgates, rather than a few squadrons of fighters. The Bretonians were suspicious, but not suspicious enough to do anything yet.

Black had told Heinz that he thought it was time to make the final attack, and Heinz concurred. They set it up that the attack group would be divided into three groups, one attacking from each RLA system. They would push through, destroying Bretonian ships at all the bases they passed, and then they would meet at Planet New Berlin, and make their final assault on the planet and the Ring installation. The planet was expected to fall fairly easily, as the Bretonians had never taken control of the surface, because roaming mobs had already crushed the government in their desperate attempts to survive after the stock market crashed. The entire Rheinland economy had died when the Bretonians took over the outlying Rheinland systems, since they were the source of most of Rheinland's income. The house had collapsed onto itself and the Chancellor and his associates were slaughtered when the mobs stormed the capitol building.

That was why the Ring installation, including the Oder Shipyards, were the RLA's primary objectives in this attack. The Bretonian occupation force had made the Ring their headquarters, and most of the Bretonian leadership was stationed there. Heinz had managed to organize the remains of the Rheinland soldiers and was planning to use them as a landing force to quickly seize the installation and kill the Bretonian leadership.

So, the RLA leaders held a meeting and assigned ships and attack teams. Shockingly, Black was the highest-ranking fleet officer in the RLA, and he was given command of the only battleship that the RLA possessed: the Westfalen.  
He was given control of Attack Group 2, the support group. He was to enter from Hamburg with 75 fighters and three gunboats, and go straight to the Ring. Heinz would then arrive with the attack craft, which were modified transports, and land on the Ring. They would attack, and Black was simply supposed to hold off, and destroy if possible, the Bretonian defenders.  
Black knew, based on previous experience, that the Bretonians would keep him very busy.

Torpedoes hit the hull of the Westfalen. Black requested a damage report.   
"Three torpedoes hit the main fuel line. Minor hull damage. We've switched to the auxiliary line," his aide stated, so nonchalantly that Black wouldn't have been able to guess that they were in the middle of a huge battle just by listening to his voice.

Saying that they were in the middle of a huge battle didn't even describe it. The future of a nation depended on their victory, and the odds were firmly against them. The Westfalen alone was dealing with three Bretonian battleships and dozens of fighters. However, Black had been pleasantly surprised at the ship's durability, for it had held up against punishment that would have left a Liberty Dreadnought in pieces.

Black activated the comm channel that would enable him to talk to his two surviving gunboat escorts.

"Boys, we're running the gauntlet," he told them.

"Running the gauntlet" was a tactic that had been created years ago by a well-known Liberty admiral named Michael Cloudwalker. It was a tactic created for capital ship combat while outnumbered at least two-to-one.

The two gunboats formed up on the Westfalen's left and right, and the three ships accelerated towards a gap between two of the three Bretonian battleships attacking them.

The idea behind the tactic was to slip right between two enemy capital ships. Usually, the enemy would stop firing or fire less because of the high risk of missing and hitting the ship on the other side. It was a risk that few captains would take, so for a few seconds, usually the ship in between would have free reign to fire at close range without being fired on.

The three ships passed through the gauntlet and sure enough, the Bretonians didn't fire. All three of them opened up with everything they had on the Bretonians, and after they passed through, the Bretonian ships were being torn apart by internal explosions. Only one was left.

"Admiral, this is Heinz. A Bretonian battleship has approached the station and is firing on my attack ships!"

Black executed a hundred-eighty degree turn and brought the Westfalen towards the last Bretonian battleship. It was deep within the swarm of Bretonian and RLA fighters that surrounded the Ring. Its batteries were firing on the attack ships going in and out of the installation, ferrying the wounded and prisoners out of harm's way and bringing in fresh men.

Black got within range and fired. Instantly, a squadron of Bretonian fighters attacked him, launching more torpedoes into the Westfalen. The ship held together, and Black fired again. More torpedoes hit, this time near the engines.  
"Sir! We've lost life support and power to the stern compartments!" the aide exclaimed, this time showing emotion.

"Try to patch some power into there," Black replied.  
The Westfalen fired again. The Bretonian battleship burst into flame and was torn into three pieces.

Then, a huge thump. Alarms went on everywhere.

"Status report!" Black screamed.

"They fired an EMP torpedo up our engine shaft!" the aide was distressed now.

"We've lost the engine! We're drifting."

"Remain clam. Fire the emergency thrusters and get us stopped."

Another thump, this time softer. The emergency thrusters had activated. The   
ship stopped, barely in time to not collide with the station.

Black sighed. Another close shave.

TO BE CONTINUED


End file.
